Does Power Corrupt or Enable? When and Why Power Facilitates Self-Interested Behavior

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: DeCelles, Katherine A.; DeRue, D. Scott; Margolis, Joshua D.; Ceranic, Tara L.
• 署名单位: University of Toronto; University of Michigan System; University of Michigan; Harvard University; University of San Diego
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF APPLIED PSYCHOLOGY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0021-9010
• DOI: 10.1037/a0026811
• 发表日期: 2012
• 页码: 681-689
• 关键词: POWER; MORAL IDENTITY; self-interested behavior; MORAL AWARENESS; commons dilemma

摘要

Does power corrupt a moral identity, or does it enable a moral identity to emerge? Drawing from the power literature, we propose that the psychological experience of power, although often associated with promoting self-interest, is associated with greater self-interest only in the presence of a weak moral identity. Furthermore, we propose that the psychological experience of power is associated with less self-interest in the presence of a strong moral identity. Across a field survey of working adults and in a lab experiment, individuals with a strong moral identity were less likely to act in self-interest, yet individuals with a weak moral identity were more likely to act in self-interest, when subjectively experiencing power. Finally, we predict and demonstrate an explanatory mechanism behind this effect: The psychological experience of power enhances moral awareness among those with a strong moral identity, yet decreases the moral awareness among those with a weak moral identity. In turn, individuals' moral awareness affects how they behave in relation to their self-interest.